THOSE fighting me are just hired guns from the street who do not vote but have just been paid by a rival businessman to make noise, Eastern Province PF chairman Andrew Lubusha has said.

Commenting on the strained relationship between him and other party officials which has caught the attention of the party secretariat, Mr Lubusha said it was good that the party had put the issue to bed until the current executive’s mandate expires in 2019.

However, he said that he was not moved by manoeuvres from disgruntled individuals who had been paid by a well-known businessman who was eyeing his position because he would still win even if elections were to be called today due to his massive following at the grassroots.

He said it was sad that some people were being ignorantly rounded up to champion a selfish motive by an individual who did not even qualify to stand as chairperson because he was not in the party’s electoral college but was only interested in bringing confusion in the party.

He said even the people that were used for the revolution in the province did not qualify to vote in provincial elections because they were outside the structures.

“It is very true that weapons are being used to discredit me by a known business rival who thinks he can be elected as provincial chairperson but the truth is that he does not even qualify to participate in these election because he is not part of our electoral college. Even if he qualified and elections were to be called today, I would still beat him. “Those people he is sponsoring to bring confusion in the party are not even in the structure and therefore, cannot vote. I command a huge following here in Eastern Province and no amount of pressure will change that. They have tried their best to bring me down by coming up with all sorts of accusations but they have failed because their claims were all lies,” Mr. Lubusha said.

He said if the situation had remained unchanged, the same people would have succeeded in destroying the party as they would have hoodwinked well-meaning party members into believing that there was something wrong with the provincial leadership.

“The party secretary general made it clear that the elections will only take place in 2019 and all of us have to respect that unlike bringing confusion in the party,” he said.